Michael Klinger was the most successful indpendent producer in the British film industry over a 20 year period from 1960 to 1980, responsible for 32 films, including classics such as Repulsion (1965) and Get Carter (1971). Despite working with many famous figures- including actors Michael Caine, Peter Finch, Lee Marvin, Roger Moore, Mickey Rooney and Susannah York; directors Claude Chabrol,Mike Hodges and Roman Polanski and author Wilbur Smith- Klinger's contribution to British cinema has been almost largely ignored. This definitive book on Micheal Klinger, largely based on his previously unseen personal papers, examines his origins in Sixties Soho 'sexploitation' cinema and 'shockumentaries' through to major international productions including Gold (1974) and Shout at the Devil (1976). It reveals how Klinger deftly combined commercial product-the hugely popular 'Confessions' series (1974-78)- with artistic, experimental cinema that nurtured young talent, including Polanski and Hodges, Peter Colinson, Alastair Reid, Linda Hayden and Moshe Mizrahi, the Israeli director of Rachel's Man (1975). Klinger's career is contextualised through a reassessment of the British film industry during a period of unprecedented change and volatility as well as highlighting the importance of his Jewishness. The Man Who Got Carter offers a detailed analysis of the essential but often misunderstood role played by the producer.
Michael Klinger was the most successful indpendent producer in the British film industry over a 20 year period from 1960 to 1980, responsible for 32 films, including classics such as Repulsion (1965) and Get Carter (1971). Despite working with many famous figures- including actors Michael Caine, Peter Finch, Lee Marvin, Roger Moore, Mickey Rooney and Susannah York; directors Claude Chabrol,Mike Hodges and Roman Polanski and author Wilbur Smith- Klinger's contribution to British cinema has been almost largely ignored. This definitive book on Micheal Klinger, largely based on his previously unseen personal papers, examines his origins in Sixties Soho 'sexploitation' cinema and 'shockumentaries' through to major international productions including Gold (1974) and Shout at the Devil (1976). It reveals how Klinger deftly combined commercial product-the hugely popular 'Confessions' series (1974-78)- with artistic, experimental cinema that nurtured young talent, including Polanski and Hodges, Peter Colinson, Alastair Reid, Linda Hayden and Moshe Mizrahi, the Israeli director of Rachel's Man (1975). Klinger's career is contextualised through a reassessment of the British film industry during a period of unprecedented change and volatility as well as highlighting the importance of his Jewishness. The Man Who Got Carter offers a detailed analysis of the essential but often misunderstood role played by the producer.
Dedication Page
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Foreword – Mike Hodges
Chapter 1 – Introduction: An Independent Producer
Chapter 2 – Learning the Craft: Sex, Soho and Compton Films
Chapter 3 – Making the Transition to Independence: The
Penthouse,
Baby Love and Something to Hide
Chapter 4 – Getting Carter: Mike Hodges, Michael Caine and
Crime
Thrillers
Chapter 5 – Rivalling the Big Boys: Wilbur Smith, Gold and Shout
at
the Devil
Chapter 6 – The Jewish Producer: Rachel’s Man
Chapter 7 – A Bit on the Side: the Confessions Films
Chapter 8 – A Rank Deal?
Chapter 9 – Repackagings
Chapter 10 – Conclusion
Appendix 1
Bibliography
Filmography
Index
Michael Klinger was the most successful independent producer in the British film industry over a twenty year period, from 1960 to 1980, responsible for 32 films, including classics such as Repulsion and Get Carter.
Andrew Spicer is Reader in Cultural History in the Department of Creative Industries at the University of West England where he is Director of Research. He is the author of Film Noir (2002), Typical Men: The Representation of Masculinity in Popular British Cinema (2003), Sydney Box (2006) and the Historical Dictionary of Film Noir (2010). He has edited Sydney Box's autobiography, European Film Noir (2007) and co-edited A Companion to Film Noir (2013). He led an AHRC funded project to catalogue and interpret the Michael Klinger papers housed at the University of West England, part of a wider investigation into the changing role of the film producer. A.T. McKena was Research Associate in the Department of Creative Industries at the University of West England and now teaches Media and International Communications at the University of Nottingham in Ningbo, China. His work has appeared in journals that include Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Journal of British Cinema and Television and Journal of Popular Cinema. He is currently writing a book about Joseph E. Levine for the University of Kentucky.
Although American fans of the original Get Carter can name-check its star Michael Caine and its director Mike Hodges, they're probably less familiar with its producer Michael Klinger...Mobilizing previously unmined archival material and fine-grained historical analysis, The Man Who Got Carter not only broaches the notion-pace star and auteur-director studies- that 'Klinger is Carter' but shines a klieg light on the rough and tumble relations between commerce and creativity, art and entertainment, during a key period in the history of British cinema.' Robert Miklitsch, Professor of Film Studies, Ohio University 'This is an absolutely outstanding book; I can't think of one that has impressed me so much on British cinema for a very long time. It is a test case for film history, in that it demonstrates the very best in resources, technique and method...it ought to be required reading for anyone interested in the British film industry.' Sue Harper, Emeritus Professor of Film History, University of Portsmouth. 'The Man Who Got Carter' is one of the best historical studies of the film industry ever written. Andrew Spicer and Anthony McKenna bring to light the extraordinary career of a producer whose life and work deserve to be much better known. It is an insightful, masterful study that provides an exemplary model of how to investigate the role and agency of the independent producer.' James Chapman, Professor of Film Studies, University of Leicester
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